This is the single-news section of the
marathonrally.com news "Offroad & Motorsports".
To see all news please use the link under the article or navigate
with the left main-navigation.

24H of Greece: First impressions of Team G-Force.

On Wednesday our team arrived in the capital of Greece - Athens. The first thing we noticed from the board of our plane was the beauty of this ancient country.

But soon, while leaving the airport, we were pleasantly amazed with another factor - the weather. According to local residents, temperature now is abnormally high, because generally it rains at this time of the year. But, having escaped from the cold and cloudy native land, we better enjoy the almost summer sun! Having left our stuff in the hotel, we decided not to linger, and instead got into the car provided by the inviting party and drove to the historical centre of the ancient city. Of course, our choice of the first sight to see fell on Acropolis. Even despite restoration, currently conducted on Acropolis, we were amazed with the greatness of construction, and with the fact it had been built manually, long before the invention of big mechanically-powered building machines.

After we had walked around the nearby small streets, with uncountable variety of shops and benches, we returned to the hotel where a dinner was served for us, during which we got acquinted with the race organiser and the chief editor of local off-road magazine Tetrakinisi - Giannis Atanisiou - and his wife Konstantina, who helped him in preparations to the race. They told us about the situation with motorsport in Greece, about the forthcoming race and the car tests to be held the next day.

On Friday morning we went to the suburbs of Athens to the foot of a picturesque mountain, where we were presented the car which Boris and Vladimir would drive in a day time. After the first lap the newly-crowned Bajas Cup winner replied no other thing to a question about his impressions but "Deja vu!" Boris used to drive a similar car in the Russian Championship in 2001 and 2002, and he soon recollected that experience in his memory. The tests were organised so that to feel like a meeting of close friends, in an absolutely cosy atmosphere, with conversations with different pleasant people, so no wonder overall it lasted more than two hours like had been planned initially.

After the tests a press-conference was organised for local journalists, and the Russian driver said in his interview that (on what is actually his first visit to the country) he had only best and positive impressions from Greece and its people. He also praised the test track with rough surface and technical turns, which required much attention and high driving skills, as well as the interesting concept of the competition itself. It is necessary to mention that unlike other countries where the same race distance is spread over a few days, here the final round of the Championship of Greece is held within 24 hours, like a real endurance race.

It seems very interesting for our crew to experience such kind of a race concept in a real competition, so they are really eager to start in it. Boris noticed that lately he had driven mostly SuperProduction vehicles, most recently the G-Force Proto of his own design, so the main thing for him was to recollect how far he could push his race vehicle to drive as fast as possible and to preserve it at the same time. The driver noticed that the car, provided to him, was in a very good condition, seemed to correspond with the Production class regularities, and had a fresh engine. During the tests he tried to play with suspension settings and to get used to the character of local roads.

After the tests and press-conference we were invited to a friend of Giannis, who is one of the participants of tomorrow's race, to his own off-road stadium. We were once again impressed by the Greek hospitality, but even more than that we were surprised by the stadium and the cars inside, constructed by the owner. But it deserves a separate story to be published by us in the nearest future.